Jake's Birthday Bean and Snap Pea Salad

August 19th! Jake's birthday, and another celebratory pot luck at the McMurtry's in Walnut Creek. I decided to concoct a summer bean and snap pea salad that had been a big hit on the Fourth of July. The inspiration  came from a striking photograph in the Canadian cookbook First Mess by Laura Wright. Her title refers to a passage in M.F.K. Fisher's An Alphabet for Gourmets.

Slicing sugar snap peas down the middle is the key to the salad's striking presentation and it always gets raves. The rest of the ingredients are prepared in the traditional manner-- just simmer green and yellow beans until tender, run a bit of cold water over them, drain and plop them in a bowl. Blanch whole snap peas for a minute in the boiling water, drain them, slice horizontally and add them to the bowl. Salt the veggies and dress them with a simple vinaigrette made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, shaved shallots, and a small spoonful of Dijon mustard. At the last minute I added halved cherry tomatoes and sprigs of basil for flavor and effect.

To serve the salad, I chose a BIA rectangular baker with a vegetable motif to show off the beauty of the dish. I poured the undressed vegetables into the baker and arranged them artfully in order to take the photo and then I dressed and rearranged them right in the server. The little green pea pod at the top of the picture is actually a design painted on the white porcelain, but it certainly looks like a part of the salad. You can easily spot the pea pod in the empty baker below.

My precious BIA rectangular baker with veggie pattern

I first discovered BIA Cordon Bleu when I went to work for Chef's Warehouse in Daly City. This was the newly opened retail cookware store for BIA, as it's now called, a company that produced French inspired cookware, bakeware and tableware made from porcelain. To learn more about the history of the company called Belgian Import Association, click Here . I was hired to organize the cookbook section of their shop, but I soon had ample opportunity to familiarize myself with all the BIA products, and I lost no time collecting appealing pieces. At that time the South San Francisco company designed and manufactured beautifully decorated dinnerware sets, casseroles, oval and rectangular bakeware, cafe-au-lait bowls, pitchers, soup tureens etc. etc. My co workers and I collected  to our heart's content, but little did we realize that in the near future our beloved decorative fruit and flower patterns would be eliminated and could not be replaced. Though the company is still thriving they have switched to plain white patterns and the glazed ceramic stoneware that is now in vogue.

Unfortunately my supply of dinner and salad plates is dwindling due to inevitable breakage, but I still have plenty of oval, rectangular and round bakers due to their thickness and durability. I should mention that all porcelain is made of clay and fired at a very high temperature to allow for strength and durability. These wonderful products can withstand hot ovens, microwaves, freezers and dishwashers. But sadly, they can't withstand a crash to a hard floor or a stiff bang on a granite counter top.

The casserole pictured above, decorated with colorful summer vegetables, is one of my BIA favorites. I use it to bake Dean's favorite microwave polenta.

A round baker with a rare grape pattern

I have tried to replace my broken items on the BIA website as well as on EBay but the selection is minute. All I found were few items with chili peppers from an estate sale in Texas. So I'll just have to enjoy the pieces that I have left, and hold on to the those dwindling dinner plates with a firm grip.